What They Are Saying … about Pope Benedict XVI

In this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Pope Benedict XVI reads a document in Latin where he announces his resignation, during a meeting of Vatican cardinals, at the Vatican Feb. 11. (AP Photo/L’Osservatore Romano)

What columnists are saying about Monday’s announcement by the Vatican that Pope Benedict XVI would resign at the end of the month:

His decision puts the church’s well-being first
Of course, you don’t really think of a Pope trying to retire at the top of his game, but physical and cognitive abilities are surely quite important to the spiritual leadership of the church. So I’m quite impressed that Pope Benedict has chosen to step down while he is still capable of ministering to the Church, rather than having the Church spend the last years of his life ministering to his failing health.— Megan McArdle, Daily Beast

Demonstrative of a quality that is lacking in our society
Many have described the move as a act of extraordinary “humility,” putting the needs of the church above that of his own. Putting aside any personal feelings about this pope, perhaps there is something we can learn from that in our own country. If the pope’s explanation is true … then the news is noteworthy not just because of the shakeup it will cause within the Catholic Church but because it demonstrates a quality that is lacking within our own political sphere and society.— Sean Hannity, hannity.com

Resignation shows the papacy is ‘a job more than a vow’
The most obvious is that the decision to resign may be the most modernizing decision Pope Benedict has taken. (Quick question: Who is the person most upset with the decision? Queen Elizabeth II. You can bet that she took a call from Prince Charles this morning asking if she was watching the telly!) In a single moment, the pope has removed some of the aura of the papacy, the idea that it was a vocation rather than a ministry, something that cannot be abandoned without somehow affronting the Holy Spirit. Today, the pope indicated that the Petrine ministry is a ministry, a very specific ministry to be sure, but more of a job than a vow.— Michael Sean Winters, National Catholic Reporter

If it was the private sector, he would have been fired long ago
“Benedict’s brief tenure was riven by conflict and controversy. The slow erosion of Catholicism’s influence predated his reign, of course, but he did little to reverse to trend—and he might very well have expedited it. Indeed, if Benedict was the CEO of a powerful international, peddling a product that a significant population of the world couldn’t live without, and presided over a continuing slide in that product’s market share (for lack of a better phrase), he would have been relieved of his duties years ago.”
— Michael Moynihan, The Daily Beast

It’s a chance for the church to ‘confront its crises’
Pope Benedict’s resignation shouldn’t have surprised us as much as it did. As an institutionalist who believes in the Roman Catholic Church as the carrier of truth in a sinful world, he would worry a great deal about the impact of his own infirmities on the institution’s capacity to thrive. Catholics believe that the Holy Spirit inspires the papal conclaves that choose successors to St. Peter. In prompting this much-needed debate now rather than hanging on to office and presiding as his energies failed him, Benedict has made what can be seen as an inspired choice that will give the church a chance to confront its crises — and its opportunities.— E.J. Dionne Jr., The Washington Post

… and to find someone more in line with modern Catholics
Pope Benedict XVI’s stunning decision to step down gives the Roman Catholic Church the opportunity to choose a progressive leader who’s more in step with how churchgoers really live their lives in the 21st century. American Catholics especially would benefit from the selection of a pope ready to talk openly about religious values in modern times. U.S. Catholics’ support for the use of birth control and for women as priests, for example, have long been ignored and criticized by the Vatican. Selecting a modern-day pope could create a more vibrant future for the church.— From an editorial in the Kansas City Star

Benedict was ill-suited for the times
How the 85-year-old pope announced his resignation, the only pontiff to do so in some 600 years, and the choreographed timing of the transition he has imposed says everything about who he is as a leader of the church. Benedict will be remembered as the pope of ironies, a moral fundamentalist and chief theologian under his predecessor Pope John Paul II. His prosecutorial bent left him ill-suited as pastor of a global church at a time when the church is in crisis in North America and Western Europe and yet growing in Africa and Latin America.— Jason Berry, Global Post

But he was a good caretaker
Benedict was a man who understood human frailty far better than most because he dealt with it for so many years as the leader of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith. He also saw how humans can be twisted into evil facsimiles of themselves by surviving the Nazi scourge. And he understood, in the final years of a life devoted to Christ, that we need to ask forgiveness before we can be forgiven.
I do not have the same sad feeling of loss as I did when John Paul II passed away. But I am only now beginning to realize the caliber of the man who was a good caretaker of what we in the Catholic family hold sacred. God bless and keep him.— Christine Flowers, Philadelphia Daily News

Vincent Carroll is The Denver Post's editorial page editor. He has been writing commentary on politics and public policy in Colorado since 1982 and was originally with the Rocky Mountain News, where he was also editor of the editorial pages until that newspaper gave up the ghost in 2009.

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